<p>The Kidz Fest in Essex was&nbsp;advertised as a &ldquo;unique weekend full of fun&rdquo;.</p>

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<p>However, one parent&nbsp;said the event,&nbsp;where some tickets cost &pound;56&nbsp;for a family of four, was &ldquo;a complete and utter disgrace&rdquo;.&nbsp;When people arrived they were told that although some attractions were free with admission&nbsp;they had to pay more money for most of the other rides.&nbsp;</p>

<blockquote>
<p>&quot;One of the free attractions was a castle made from old cardboard boxes&quot;, they added.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The event also advertised a &#39;petting zoo&#39; which consisted of a guinea pig, a rabbit, an owl and a snake.</p>

<p>Mother Jessica Turner wrote on Facebook: <em>&quot;The event was a complete and utter disgrace, it was basically a school fete, the only thing free was pretty much some cardboard boxes and paint, and a very small &quot;circus&quot; area manned by a rude girl who sat on her phone the entire time&quot;.</em></p>

<blockquote>
<p>Another Mum, Charlotte Pether&nbsp;said on Facebook that she<em> </em><em>&quot;paid &pound;14 each for....all this stuff in there was meant to be free and loads for the kids to do. But we had to pay for it all! Literally like 1 or 2 things were free.&nbsp;We paid to walk around a field and then paid for everything else we done&quot;.</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>Parents set up a Facebook page <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/1068496983242076/" target="_blank">&lsquo;Kidz Fest Refund 2016&rsquo; </a>in a bid to get their money back.</p>

<p>Some claim to have received a refund&nbsp;from either the organisers or from Groupon who were offering a discount deal.</p>

<p>An Essex Police spokesman said,&nbsp;according to the<a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/tempers-flare-at-essex-fun-day-branded-absolute-con-by-parents-a3314146.html" target="_blank"> Evening Standard</a>: &ldquo;Officers attended to prevent breach of the peace and offered words of advice to attendees.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Chaos in Orset at kidz fest. Total rip off <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Essex?src=hash">#Essex</a> when nothing is free ! &pound;14 per person for a free cardboard box <a href="https://t.co/OHfoGl1Sv9">pic.twitter.com/OHfoGl1Sv9</a></p>
&mdash; Charlotte Pether (@CharlottePether) <a href="https://twitter.com/CharlottePether/status/761910559981858816">August 6, 2016</a></blockquote>
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